The selected sites are close to the memorials of former presidents and prime ministers such as Giani Zail Singh, Shankar Dayal Sharma, Chandra Shekhar, IK Gujaral, and PV Narasimha Rao.According to government officials, the CPWD will carry out the construction, and the trust will bear the expenses. The proposed memorial’s cenotaph would be identical to those already existing on the campus.Each memorial is a square piece of land surrounded by about two-feet-high sandstone-latticed screens with a 5X5 black granite platform in the centre. This is the standard design for memorials at the Rashtriya Smriti complex.The only exception is Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Samadhi. It comprises nine square black polished granite solid stone blocks, capped with a ‘diya’ in the Centre. The blocks are placed in a circular lotus-shaped pattern and enclosed by nine bas-relief walls, which have inscriptions of the prose or poetry of Vajpayee.Memorial plots at Rashtriya Smriti SthalDr Manmohan Singh passed away last December. Following the demand by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the government offered two adjoining plots at the Rashtriya Smriti complex for his memorial. The ministry has also carried out the groundwork to facilitate the construction of the memorial.
Source link
